Stations of The Cross - ACM - v2

THE+STATIONS+OF+THE+CROSS
OPENING PRAYER
Officiant: We adore you O Christ, and we bless you:

People: Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
Officiant: We will glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ:
People: In whom is our salvation, our life and resurrection.
Officiant: Let us pray.
People: Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but
first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he
was crucified: mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of
his cross, may find it none other than the way of life and
peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
FIRST STATION
JESUS IS CONDEMNED TO DEATH
People: We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.

Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
Reader: Pilate said to them, “Then what should I do with Jesus who is
called the Messiah?” All of them said, “Let him be crucified!” Then he
asked, “Why, what evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Let
him be crucified!” So he released Barabbas for them; and after flogging
Jesus, he handed him over to be crucified. Matthew 27:22-23,26
MEDITATION
Reader: The Judge of the world, who will come again to judge us all,
stands there, dishonored and defenseless before the earthly judge. Pilate
is not utterly evil. He knows that the condemned man is innocent, and he
looks for a way to free him. But his heart is divided. And in the end he
lets his own position, his own self-interest, prevail over what is right. Nor
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are the men who are shouting and demanding the death of Jesus utterly
evil. Many of them, on the day of Pentecost, will feel “cut to the heart”
(Acts 2:37), when Peter will say to them: “Jesus of Nazareth, a man
attested to you by God... you crucified and killed by the hands of those
outside the law” (Acts 2:22ff.). But at that moment they are caught up in
the crowd. They are shouting because everyone else is shouting, and they
are shouting the same thing that everyone else is shouting. And in this
way, justice is trampled underfoot by weakness, cowardice and fear of the
diktat of the ruling mindset. The quiet voice of conscience is drowned out
by the cries of the crowd. Evil draws its power from indecision and
concern for what other people think.
PRAYER
Lord, you were condemned to death because fear of what other people
may think suppressed the voice of conscience. So too, throughout history,
the innocent have always been maltreated, condemned and killed. How
many times have we ourselves preferred success to the truth, our
reputation to justice? Strengthen the quiet voice of our conscience, your
own voice, in our lives. Look at me as you looked at Peter after his denial.
Let your gaze penetrate our hearts and indicate the direction our lives
must take. On the day of Pentecost you stirred the hearts of those who,
on Good Friday, clamored for your death, and you brought them to
conversion. In this way you gave hope to all. Grant us, ever anew, the
grace of conversion.
People: Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy Name,
thy kingdom come, thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.
At the cross her station keeping,
stood the mournful mother weeping,
close to Jesus to the last.
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SECOND STATION
JESUS TAKES UP HIS CROSS

Reader: Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor’s
headquarters, and they gathered the whole cohort around him. They
stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and after twisting some
thorns into a crown, they put it on his head. They put a reed in his right
hand and knelt before him and mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the
Jews!” They spat on him, and took the reed and struck him on the head.
After mocking him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own
clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him. Matthew. 27:27-31
MEDITATION
Reader: Jesus, condemned as an imposter king, is mocked, but this very
mockery lays bare a painful truth. How often are the symbols of power,
borne by the great ones of this world, an affront to truth, to justice and to
the dignity of man! How many times are their pomps and their lofty
words nothing but grandiose lies, a parody of their solemn obligation to
serve the common good! It is because Jesus is mocked and wears the
crown of suffering that he appears as the true King. His scepter is justice
(cf. Ps 45:7). The price of justice in this world is suffering: Jesus, the true
King, does not reign through violence, but through a love which suffers
for us and with us. He takes up the Cross, our cross, the burden of being
human, the burden of the world. And so he goes before us and points out
to us the way which leads to true life.
PRAYER
Lord, you willingly subjected yourself to mockery and scorn. Help us not
to ally ourselves with those who look down on the weak and suffering.
Help us to acknowledge your face in the lowly and the outcast. May we
never lose heart when faced with the contempt of this world, which
ridicules our obedience to your will. You carried your own Cross and you
ask us to follow you on this path (cf. Mt 10:38). Help us to take up the
Cross, and not to shun it. May we never complain or become discouraged
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by life’s trials. Help us to follow the path of love and, in submitting to its
demands, to find true joy.
People: Our Father, who art in heaven...
Through her soul, of joy bereaved,
bowed with anguish, deeply grieved,
Lo! the piercing sword had passed.
THIRD STATION
JESUS FALLS FOR THE FIRST TIME

Reader: Surely he has born our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we
esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded
for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was
the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own
way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah. 53:4-6
MEDITATION
Reader: Man has fallen, and he continues to fall: often he becomes a
caricature of himself, no longer the image of God, but a mockery of the
Creator. Is not the man who, on the way from Jerusalem to Jericho, fell
among robbers who stripped him and left him half-dead and bleeding
beside the road, the image of humanity par excellence? Jesus’ fall beneath
the Cross is not just the fall of the man Jesus, exhausted from his
scourging. There is a more profound meaning in this fall, as Paul tells us
in the Letter to the Philippians: “though he was in the form of God, he
did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied
himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men...
He humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a
Cross” (Phil 2:6-8). In Jesus’ fall beneath the weight of the Cross, the
meaning of his whole life is seen: his voluntary abasement, which lifts us
up from the depths of our pride. The nature of our pride is also revealed:
it is that arrogance which makes us want to be liberated from God and
left alone to ourselves, the arrogance which makes us think that we do
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not need his eternal love, but can be the masters of our own lives. In this
rebellion against truth, in this attempt to be our own god, creator and
judge, we fall headlong and plunge into self-destruction. The humility of
Jesus is the surmounting of our pride; by his abasement he lifts us up. Let
us allow him to lift us up. Let us strip away our sense of self-sufficiency,
our false illusions of independence, and learn from him, the One who
humbled himself, to discover our true greatness by bending low before
God and before our downtrodden brothers and sisters.
PRAYER
Lord Jesus, the weight of the cross made you fall to the ground. The
weight of our sin, the weight of our pride, brought you down. But your
fall is not a tragedy, or mere human weakness. You came to us when, in
our pride, we were laid low. The arrogance that makes us think that we
ourselves can create human beings has turned man into a kind of
merchandise, to be bought and sold, or stored to provide parts for
experimentation. In doing this, we hope to conquer death by our own
efforts, yet in reality we are profoundly debasing human dignity. Lord
help us; we have fallen. Help us to abandon our destructive pride and, by
learning from your humility, to rise again.
Through her soul, of joy bereaved,
bowed with anguish, deeply grieved,
Lo! the piercing sword had passed.
FOURTH STATION
JESUS MEETS HIS MOTHER

Reader: Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother: “Behold, this
child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is
spoken against (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that
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thoughts out of many hearts may be revealed”. And his mother kept all
these things in her heart. Luke. 2:34-35,51
MEDITATION
Reader: On Jesus’ Way of the Cross, we also find Mary, his Mother.
During his public life she had to step aside, to make place for the birth of
Jesus’ new family, the family of his disciples. She also had to hear the
words: “Who is my mother and who are my brothers?... Whoever does
the will of my Father in heaven is brother, and sister and mother” (Mt
12:48-50). Now we see her as the Mother of Jesus, not only physically,
but also in her heart. Even before she conceived him bodily, through her
obedience she conceived him in her heart. It was said to Mary: “And
behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son. He will be great
and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David” (Lk
1:31ff.). And she would hear from the mouth of the elderly Simeon: “A
sword will pierce through your own soul” (Lk 2:35). She would then
recall the words of the prophets, words like these: “He was oppressed, and
he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; he was like a lamb that is
led to slaughter” (Is 54:7). Now it all takes place. In her heart she had
kept the words of the angel, spoken to her in the beginning: “Do not be
afraid, Mary” (Lk 1:30). The disciples fled, yet she did not flee. She stayed
there, with a Mother’s courage, a Mother’s fidelity, a Mother’s goodness,
and a faith which did not waver in the hour of darkness: “Blessed is she
who believed” (Lk 1:45). “Nevertheless, when the Son of man comes, will
he find faith on earth?” (Lk 18:8). Yes, in this moment Jesus knows: he
will find faith. In this hour, this is his great consolation.
PRAYER
Lord Jesus, your mother Mary remained faithful when all the other
disciples fled. She believed the angel’s incredible message that she would
become the mother of the Most High, and she still believed at the hour
of your greatest abasement. In this way, at the hour of the Cross, at the
hour of the world’s darkest night, she became the mother of all believers,
Help us also to believe, and grant that our faith in you may bear fruit in
courageous service and be the sign of a love ever ready to share suffering
and to offer assistance.
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O that silent, ceaseless mourning,
pious mother never turning
from her wondrous, suffering Son
FIFTH STATION
THE CYRENIAN HELPS JESUS CARRY THE CROSS

Reader: As they went out, they came upon a man of Cyrene, Simon by
name; and they compelled him to carry his cross. Jesus told his disciples,
“If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his
cross and follow me. Matthew. 27:32; 16:24
MEDITATION
Reader: Simon of Cyrene is on his way home, returning from work, when
he comes upon the sad procession of those condemned for him, perhaps,
it was a common sight. The soldiers force this rugged man from the
country to carry the Cross on his own shoulders. How annoying he must
have thought it to be suddenly caught up in the fate of those condemned
men! He does what he must do, but reluctantly. Significantly, the
Evangelist Mark does not only name him, but also his children, who were
evidently known as Christians and as members of that community (cf.
Mk 15:21). From this chance encounter, faith was born. The Cyrenian,
walking beside Jesus and sharing the burden of the Cross, came to see
that it was a grace to be able to accompany him to his crucifixion and to
help him. The mystery of Jesus, silent and suffering, touched his heart.
Jesus, whose divine love alone can redeem all humanity, wants us to share
his Cross so that we can complete what is still lacking in his suffering (cf.
Col 1:24). Whenever we show kindness to the suffering, the persecuted
and defenseless, and share in their sufferings, we help to carry that same
Cross of Jesus. In this way we obtain salvation, and help contribute to the
salvation of the world.
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PRAYER
Lord, you opened the eyes and heart of Simon of Cyrene, and you gave
him, by his share in your Cross, the grace of faith. Help us to aid our
neighbors in need, even when this interferes with our own plans and
desires. Help us to realize that it is a grace to be able to share the cross of
others and, in this way, know that we are walking with you along the way.
Help us to appreciate with joy that, when we share in your suffering and
the sufferings of this world, we become servants of salvation and are able
to help build up your Body, the Church.
Who on Christ’s dear Mother gazing,
in her trouble so amazing,
born of woman, would not weep?
SIXTH STATION
VERONICA WIPES THE FACE OF JESUS

Reader: Who has believed what we have heard? Who would have
thought God’s saving power would look like this? For he grew up before
him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no
form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should
desire him. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and
acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he
was despised, and we esteemed him not. Isaiah. 53:1-3
One thing have I asked of the Lord; one thing I seek; that I may dwell in
the house of the Lord all the days of my life; To behold the fair beauty of
the Lord and to seek him in his temple. You speak in my heart and say,
“Seek my face.” Your face, Lord, will I seek. Hide not your face from me,
nor turn away your servant in displeasure. You have been my helper; cast
me not away; do not forsake me, O God of my salvation. Psalm 27:5-6,11-13
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MEDITATION
Reader: “Your face, Lord, do I seek. Hide not your face from me” (Ps
27:8-9). Veronica - Bernice, in the Greek tradition - embodies the
universal yearning of the devout men and women of the Old Testament,
the yearning of all believers to see the face of God. On Jesus’ Way of the
Cross, though, she at first did nothing more than perform an act of
womanly kindness: she held out a facecloth to Jesus. She did not let
herself be deterred by the brutality of the soldiers or the fear which
gripped the disciples. She is the image of that good woman, who, amid
turmoil and dismay, shows the courage born of goodness and does not
allow her heart to be bewildered. “Blessed are the pure in heart”, the
Lord had said in his Sermon on the Mount, “for they shall see God” (Mt
5:8). At first, Veronica saw only a buffeted and pain-filled face. Yet her act
of love impressed the true image of Jesus on her heart: on his human
face, bloodied and bruised, she saw the face of God and his goodness,
which accompanies us even in our deepest sorrows. Only with the heart
can we see Jesus. Only love purifies us and gives us the ability to see.
Only love enables us to recognize the God who is love itself.
PRAYER
Lord, grant us restless hearts, hearts which seek your face. Keep us from
the blindness of heart which sees only the surface of things. Give us the
simplicity and purity which allow us to recognize your presence in the
world. When we are not able to accomplish great things, grant us the
courage which is born of humility and goodness. Impress your face on
our hearts. May we encounter you along the way and show your image to
the world.
For the sins of His own nation
she saw her Son in desolation
with thorns and bloody scourges rent.
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SEVENTH STATION
JESUS FALLS FOR THE SECOND TIME

Reader: I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of his wrath;
he has driven and brought me into darkness without any light. He has
blocked my way with hewn stones, he has made my paths crooked. He
has made my teeth grind on gravel, and made me cower in ashes.
Lamentations 3:1-2,9,16
MEDITATION
Reader: The tradition that Jesus fell three times beneath the weight of
the Cross evokes the fall of Adam, the state of fallen humanity, and the
mystery of Jesus’ own sharing in our fall. Throughout history the fall of
man constantly takes on new forms. In his First Letter, Saint John speaks
of a threefold fall: lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and the pride of life.
He thus interprets the fall of man and humanity against the backdrop of
the vices of his own time, with all its excesses and perversions. But we
can also think, in more recent times, of how a Christianity which has
grown weary of faith has abandoned the Lord: the great ideologies, and
the banal existence of those who, no longer believing in anything, simply
drift through life, have built a new and worse paganism, which in its
attempt to do away with God once and for all, have ended up doing away
with man. And so man lies fallen in the dust. The Lord bears this burden
and falls, over and over again, in order to meet us. He gazes on us, he
touches our hearts; he falls in order to raise us up.
PRAYER
Lord Jesus Christ, you have borne all our burdens and you continue to
carry us. Our weight has made you fall. Lift us up, for by ourselves we
cannot rise from the dust. Free us from the bonds of lust. In place of a
heart of stone, give us a heart of flesh, a heart capable of seeing. Lay low
the power of ideologies, so that all may see that they are a web of lies. Do
not let the wall of materialism become insurmountable. Make us aware of
your presence. Keep us sober and vigilant, capable of resisting the forces
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of evil. Help us to recognize the spiritual and material needs of others,
and to give them the help they need. Lift us up, so that we may lift others
up. Give us hope at every moment of darkness, so that we may bring your
hope to the world.
Who on Christ's dear Mother thinking,
Such a cup of sorrow drinking,
Would not share Her sorrow deep?
EIGHTH STATION
JESUS CONSOLES THE WOMEN OF JERUSALEM

Reader: Jesus turning to them said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not
weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold,
the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and the
wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never gave suck!’ Then they
will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us’; and to the hills, ‘Cover us’.
For if they do this when the wood is green, what will happen when it is
dry?” Luke. 23:28-31
MEDITATION
Reader: Hearing Jesus reproach the women of Jerusalem who follow him
and weep for him ought to make us reflect. How should we understand
his words? Are they not directed at a piety which is purely sentimental,
one which fails to lead to conversion and living faith? It is no use to
lament the sufferings of this world if our life goes on as usual. And so the
Lord warns us of the danger in which we find ourselves. He shows us
both the seriousness of sin and the seriousness of judgment. Can it be
that, despite all our expressions of consternation in the face of evil and
innocent suffering, we are all too prepared to trivialize the mystery of
evil? Have we accepted only the gentleness and love of God and Jesus,
and quietly set aside the word of judgment? “How can God be so
concerned with our weaknesses?”, we say. “We are only human!” Yet as we
contemplate the sufferings of the Son, we see more clearly the
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seriousness of sin, and how it needs to be fully atoned if it is to be
overcome. Before the image of the suffering Lord, evil can no longer be
trivialized. To us too, he says: “Do not weep for me, weep for yourselves...
if they do this when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?”.
PRAYER
Lord, to the weeping women you spoke of repentance and the Day of
Judgment, when all of us will stand before your face: before you, the
Judge of the world. You call us to leave behind the trivialization of evil,
which salves our consciences and allows us to carry on as before. You
show us the seriousness of our responsibility, the danger of our being
found guilty and without excuse on the Day of Judgment. Grant that we
may not simply walk at your side, with nothing to offer other than
compassionate words. Convert us and give us new life. Grant that in the
end we will not be dry wood, but living branches in you, the true vine,
bearing fruit for eternal life (cf. Jn 15:1-10).
Let met share with thee his pain,
who for all my sins was slain,
who for me in torments died.
NINTH STATION
JESUS FALLS FOR THE THIRD TIME

Reader: It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. Let him
sit alone in silence when he has laid it on him; let him put his mouth in
the dust - there may yet be hope; let him give his cheek to the smiter, and
be filled with insults. For the Lord will not cast off for ever, but, though
he cause grief, he will have compassion, according to the abundance of
his steadfast love. Lamentations 3:27-32
MEDITATION
Reader: What can the third fall of Jesus under the Cross say to us? We
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have considered the fall of man in general, and the falling of many
Christians away from Christ and into a godless secularism. Should we
not also think of how much Christ suffers in his own Church? How
often is the holy sacrament of his Presence abused, how often must he
enter empty and evil hearts! How often do we celebrate only ourselves,
without even realizing that he is there! How often is his Word twisted
and misused! What little faith is present behind so many theories, so
many empty words! How much filth there is in the Church, and even
among those who, in the priesthood, ought to belong entirely to him!
How much pride, how much self-complacency! What little respect we
pay to the Sacrament of Reconciliation, where he waits for us, ready to
raise us up whenever we fall! All this is present in his Passion. His
betrayal by his disciples, their unworthy reception of his Body and Blood,
is certainly the greatest suffering endured by the Redeemer; it pierces his
heart. We can only call to him from the depths of our hearts: Kyrie
eleison - Lord, save us (cf. Mt 8: 25).
PRAYER
Lord, your Church often seems like a boat about to sink, a boat taking in
water on every side. In your field we see more weeds than wheat. The
soiled garments and face of your Church throw us into confusion. Yet it
is we ourselves who have soiled them! It is we who betray you time and
time again, after all our lofty words and grand gestures. Have mercy on
your Church; within her too, Adam continues to fall. When we fall, we
drag you down to earth, and Satan laughs, for he hopes that you will not
be able to rise from that fall; he hopes that being dragged down in the
fall of your Church, you will remain prostrate and overpowered. But you
will rise again. You stood up, you arose and you can also raise us up. Save
and sanctify your Church. Save and sanctify us all.
Fount of love and holy sorrow,
mother, may my spirit borrow,
somewhat of Your woe profound.
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TENTH STATION
JESUS IS STRIPPED OF HIS GARMENTS

Reader: And when they came to a place called Golgotha (which means
the place of a skull), they offered him wine to drink, mingled with gall,
but when he tasted it, he would not drink it. And when they had
crucified him, they divided his garments among them by casting lots;
then they sat down and kept watch over him there. Matthew 27:33-36
MEDITATION
Reader: Jesus is stripped of his garments. Clothing gives a man his social
position; it gives him his place in society, it makes him someone. His
public stripping means that Jesus is no longer anything at all, he is simply
an outcast, despised by all alike. The moment of the stripping reminds us
of the expulsion from Paradise: God’s splendor has fallen away from
man, who now stands naked and exposed, unclad and ashamed. And so
Jesus once more takes on the condition of fallen man. Stripped of his
garments, he reminds us that we have all lost the “first garment” that is
God’s splendor. At the foot of the Cross, the soldiers draw lots to divide
his paltry possessions, his clothes. The Evangelists describe the scene with
words drawn from Psalm 22:19; by doing so they tell us the same thing
that Jesus would tell his disciples on the road to Emmaus: that
everything takes place “according to the Scriptures”. Nothing is mere
coincidence; everything that happens is contained in the Word of God
and sustained by his divine plan. The Lord passes through all the stages
and steps of man’s fall from grace, yet each of these steps, for all its
bitterness, becomes a step towards our redemption: this is how he carries
home the lost sheep. Let us not forget that John says that lots were
drawn for Jesus’ tunic, “woven without seam from top to bottom” ( Jn
19:23). We may consider this as a reference to the High Priest’s robe,
which was “woven from a single thread”, without stitching (Fl. Josephus,
a III, 161). For he, the Crucified One, is the true High Priest.
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PRAYER
Lord Jesus, you were stripped of your garments, exposed to shame, cast
out of society. You took upon yourself the shame of Adam, and you
healed it. You also take upon yourself the sufferings and the needs of the
poor, the outcasts of our world. And in this very way you fulfill the words
of the prophets. This is how you bring meaning into apparent
meaninglessness. This is how you make us realize that your Father holds
you, us, and the whole world in his hands. Give us a profound respect for
man at every stage of his existence, and in all the situations in which we
encounter him. Clothe us in the light of your grace.
Make my heart to burn within me
for the God who came to win me,
burn with love for Christ, my Lord
ELEVENTH STATION
JESUS IS NAILED TO THE CROSS

Reader: And over his head they put the charge against him, which read,
“This is Jesus the King of the Jews”. Then two robbers were crucified with
him, one on the right hand and one on the left. And those who passed by
derided him, wagging their heads and saying, “You who would destroy
the temple and build it in three days, save yourself ! If you are the Son of
God, come down from the Cross”. So also the chief priests with the
scribes and elders mocked him, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save
himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the Cross
and we will believe in him”. Matthew 27:37-42
MEDITATION
Reader: Jesus is nailed to the Cross. The shroud of Turin gives us an idea
of the unbelievable cruelty of this procedure. Jesus does not drink the
numbing gall offered to him: he deliberately takes upon himself all the
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pain of the Crucifixion. His whole body is racked; the words of the Psalm
have come to pass: “But I am a worm and no man, scorned by men,
rejected by the people” (Ps 22:7). “As one from whom men hide their
faces, he was despised... surely he has borne our griefs and carried our
sorrows” (Is 53:3f.). Let us halt before this image of pain, before the
suffering Son of God. Let us look upon him at times of
presumptuousness and pleasure, in order to learn to respect limits and to
see the superficiality of all merely material goods. Let us look upon him
at times of trial and tribulation, and realize that it is then that we are
closest to God. Let us try to see his face in the people we might look
down upon. As we stand before the condemned Lord, who did not use
his power to come down from the Cross, but endured its suffering to the
end, another thought comes to mind. Ignatius of Antioch, a prisoner in
chains for his faith in the Lord, praised the Christians of Smyrna for
their invincible faith: he says that they were, so to speak, nailed with flesh
and blood to the Cross of the Lord Jesus Christ (1:1). Let us nail
ourselves to him, resisting the temptation to stand apart, or to join others
in mocking him.
PRAYER
Lord Jesus Christ, you let yourself be nailed to the Cross, accepting the
terrible cruelty of this suffering, the destruction of your body and your
dignity. You allowed yourself to be nailed fast; you did not try to escape
or to lessen your suffering. May we never flee from what we are called to
do. Help us to remain faithful to you. Help us to unmask the false
freedom which would distance us from you. Help us to accept your
“binding” freedom, and, “bound” fast to you, to discover true freedom.
Those Five Wounds on Jesus smitten,
mother! in my heart be written,
deep as in your own they be.
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TWELFTH STATION
JESUS DIES ON THE CROSS

Reader: Pilate also wrote a title and put it on the Cross; it read, “Jesus of
Nazareth, the King of the Jews”. Many of the Jews read this title, for the
place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in
Hebrew, in Latin, and in Greek. John 19:19-20
Reader: Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land
until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud
voice, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?“ That is, ”My God, my God, why have
you forsaken me?“ And some of the bystanders hearing it said, ”This man
is calling Elijah“. And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it
with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave it to him to drink. But the
others said, ”Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him“. And
Jesus cried again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit”. When the
centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw
the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe, and said,
“Truly this was the Son of God!” Matthew 27:45-50,54
MEDITATION
Reader: In Greek and Latin, the two international languages of the time,
and in Hebrew, the language of the Chosen People, a sign stood above
the Cross of Jesus, indicating who he was: the King of the Jews, the
promised Son of David. Pilate, the unjust judge, became a prophet
despite himself. The kingship of Jesus was proclaimed before all the
world. Jesus himself had not accepted the title “Messiah”, because it
would have suggested a mistaken, human idea of power and deliverance.
Yet now the title can remain publicly displayed above the Crucified
Christ. He is indeed the king of the world. Now he is truly “lifted up”. In
sinking to the depths he rose to the heights. Now he has radically
fulfilled the commandment of love, he has completed the offering of
himself, and in this way he is now the revelation of the true God, the
God who is love. Now we know who God is. Now we know what true
kingship is. Jesus prays Psalm 22, which begins with the words: “My
God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Ps 22:2). He takes to himself
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the whole suffering people of Israel, all of suffering humanity, the drama
of God’s darkness, and he makes God present in the very place where he
seems definitively vanquished and absent. The Cross of Jesus is a cosmic
event. The world is darkened, when the Son of God is given up to death.
The earth trembles. And on the Cross, the Church of the Gentiles is
born. The Roman centurion understands this, and acknowledges Jesus as
the Son of God. From the Cross he triumphs ever anew.
PRAYER
Lord Jesus Christ, at the hour of your death the sun was darkened. Ever
anew you are being nailed to the Cross. At this present hour of history
we are living in God’s darkness. Through your great sufferings and the
wickedness of men, the face of God, your face, seems obscured,
unrecognizable. And yet, on the Cross, you have revealed yourself.
Precisely by being the one who suffers and loves, you are exalted. From
the Cross on high you have triumphed. Help us to recognize your face at
this hour of darkness and tribulation. Help us to believe in you and to
follow you in our hour of darkness and need. Show yourself once more to
the world at this hour. Reveal to us your salvation.
In the Passion of my Maker,
Be my sinful soul partaker,
Weep 'till death and weep with You
THIRTEENTH STATION
JESUS IS TAKEN DOWN FROM THE CROSS
AND GIVEN TO HIS MOTHER

Reader: When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping
watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were
filled with awe, and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!” There were
18
also many women there, looking on from afar, who had followed Jesus
from Galilee, ministering to him. Matthew 27:54-55
MEDITATION
Reader: Jesus is dead. From his heart, pierced by the lance of the Roman
soldier, flow blood and water: a mysterious image of the stream of the
sacraments, Baptism and the Eucharist, by which the Church is
constantly reborn from the opened heart of the Lord. Jesus’ legs are not
broken, like those of the two men crucified with him. He is thus revealed
as the true Paschal lamb, not one of whose bones must be broken (cf. Es
12:46). And now, at the end of his sufferings, it is clear that, for all the
dismay which filled men’s hearts, for all the power of hatred and
cowardice, he was never alone. There are faithful ones who remain with
him. Under the Cross stand Mary, his Mother, the sister of his Mother,
Mary, Mary Magdalen and the disciple whom he loved. A wealthy man,
Joseph of Arimathea, appears on the scene: a rich man is able to pass
through the eye of a needle, for God has given him the grace. He buries
Jesus in his own empty tomb, in a garden. At Jesus’ burial, the cemetery
becomes a garden, the garden from which Adam was cast out when he
abandoned the fullness of life, his Creator. The garden tomb symbolizes
that the dominion of death is about to end. A member of the Sanhedrin
also comes along, Nicodemus, to whom Jesus had proclaimed the mystery
of rebirth by water and the Spirit. Even in the Sanhedrin, which decreed
his death, there is a believer, someone who knows and recognizes Jesus
after his death. In this hour of immense grief, of darkness and despair, the
light of hope is mysteriously present. The hidden God continues to be the
God of life, ever near. Even in the night of death, the Lord continues to
be our Lord and Savior. The Church of Jesus Christ, his new family,
begins to take shape.
PRAYER
Lord, you descended into the darkness of death. But your body is placed
in good hands and wrapped in a white shroud (Mt 27:59). Faith has not
completely died; the sun has not completely set. How often does it
appear that you are asleep? How easy it is for us to step back and say to
ourselves: “God is dead”. In the hour of darkness, help us to know that
you are still there. Do not abandon us when we are tempted to lose heart.
Help us not to leave you alone. Give us the fidelity to withstand
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moments of confusion and a love ready to embrace you in your utter
helplessness, like your Mother, who once more holds you to her breast.
Help us, the poor and rich, simple and learned, to look beyond all our
fears and prejudices, and to offer you our abilities, our hearts and our
time, and thus to prepare a garden for the Resurrection.
Bruised, derided, cursed, defiled,
she beheld her tender child,
till His Spirit forth he sent.
FOURTEENTH STATION
JESUS IS LAID IN THE TOMB

Reader: Joseph took the body, and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud,
and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn in the rock; and he
rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb, and departed. Mary
Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the sepulcher.
Matthew 27:59-61
MEDITATION
Reader: Jesus, disgraced and mistreated, is honorably buried in a new
tomb. Nicodemus brings a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred
pounds weight, which gives off a precious scent. In the Son’s self-offering,
as at his anointing in Bethany, we see an “excess” which evokes God’s
generous and superabundant love. God offers himself unstintingly. If
God’s measure is superabundance, then we for our part should consider
nothing too much for God. This is the teaching of Jesus himself, in the
Sermon on the Mount (Mt 5:20). But we should also remember the
words of Saint Paul, who says that God “through us spreads the fragrance
of the knowledge of Christ everywhere. We are the aroma of Christ” (2
Cor 2:14ff.). Amid the decay of ideologies, our faith needs once more to
be the fragrance which returns us to the path of life. At the very moment
of his burial, Jesus’ words are fulfilled: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a
grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it
20
bears much fruit” ( Jn 12:24). Jesus is the grain of wheat which dies. From
that lifeless grain of wheat comes forth the great multiplication of bread
which will endure until the end of the world. Jesus is the bread of life
which can satisfy superabundantly the hunger of all humanity and
provide its deepest nourishment. Through his Cross and Resurrection, the
eternal Word of God became flesh and bread for us. The mystery of the
Eucharist already shines forth in the burial of Jesus.
PRAYER
Lord Jesus Christ, in your burial you have taken on the death of the grain
of wheat. You have become the lifeless grain of wheat which produces
abundant fruit for every age and for all eternity. From the tomb shines
forth in every generation the promise of the grain of wheat which gives
rise to the true manna, the Bread of Life, in which you offer us your very
self. The eternal Word, through his Incarnation and death, has become a
Word which is close to us: you put yourself into our hands and into our
hearts, so that your word can grow within us and bear fruit. Through the
death of the grain of wheat you give us yourself, so that we too can dare
to lose our life in order to find it, so that we too can trust the promise of
the grain of wheat. Help us grow in love and veneration for your
Eucharistic mystery to make you, the Bread of heaven, the source of our
life. Help us to become your “fragrance”, and to make known in this
world the mysterious traces of your life. Like the grain of wheat which
rises from the earth, putting forth its stalk and then its ear, you could not
remain enclosed in the tomb: the tomb is empty because he the Father
“did not abandon you to the nether world, nor let your flesh see
corruption” (Acts 2:31; Ps 16:10 LXX). No, you did not see corruption.
You have risen, and have made a place for our transfigured flesh in the
very heart of God. Help us to rejoice in this hope and bring it joyfully to
the world. Help us to become witnesses of your resurrection.
When to dust my dust returns,
Grant my soul, that for You yearns,
A home with Thee in paradise. Amen
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CLOSING DEVOTIONS
Officiant: Savior of the world, by your cross and precious blood you
have redeemed us:
People: Save us, and help us, we humbly beseech you, O Lord.
Officiant: Grant, O Lord, that we who are baptized into the death of
your Son our Savior Jesus Christ may continually put to death our evil
desire and be buried with him; and that through the grave and gate of
death we may come to our joyful resurrection; through his merits, who
died and was buried and rose again for us, your Son Jesus Christ our
Lord. Amen.
This text has been adapted from various sources including:

The Way of the Cross as celebrated by the Scottish Episcopal Church.
And Meditations and Prayers for the Stations of the Cross
by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger – March 24, 2005
22

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Oﬃciant: We adore you O Christ, and we bless you:

People: We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.

People: We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.

People: We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.

People: We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.

People: We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.

People: We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.

People: We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.

People: We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.

People: We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.

People: We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.

People: We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.

People: We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.

People: We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.

People: We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.

This text has been adapted from various sources including:

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